Now that the holidays are finally over, and most of the rich food & sweet treats have been devoured, personally I would like to get my eating habits back on track.

It is very tough to eat great tasting, healthy food all the time, especially during the holiday season, when we travel from friends house to dinner, then to another friends house for even more food & fun. Everyday, for what seems like a few weeks. Every table is piled high with cookies, chocolates, desserts, and egg nog (which I won't touch).

I enjoy eating and I am an excellent cook. Going into this holiday season, I committed to not baking and/or making some of the great cookies and treats I am known for (in my circle at least). I know from prior years, that visiting friends and family during the winter months would yield plenty of goodies. I ate so much, you would think I was a bear going into hibernation.

Did anyone participate in a cookie swap? My office held one, but I did not partiicpate. Now my mother on the other hand, did participate in one for her office. I remember her telling me she needed to make 12 dozen of the same cookies...Cherry-Coconut Macaroons! These are great cookies. But during the swap, these macaroons were replaced with inferior cookies. Mostly plain ole sugar cookie variations, and most of the others were some variations of chocolate chip. Even though the rules stated everyone had to bring a different type of cookie, so that there wouldn't be 10 different chocolate chip cookies on the table. Some even had the nerve to make cookies from the roll... You know the kind you buy in the dairy isle in the supermarket. How lazy, suprising, huh.

My question is, why does any family in America need 12 dozen cookies? And that is only from one event. Do you know how much Americans spend on dieting and weight loss supplements each year? Isn't America the most obese country?

Anyways, starting today, I am making a concsious decision to eat some healthier food. Although, I don't really write down and document my recipes, maybe in the future I will post some quick, easy to prepare, healthy recipes for the activerain community. Also, feel free to share your recipes if you have any.

joe